A Simple Mistake
by littledoggy
Summary: A simple mistake in hearing usually leads to humiliation...oh Koko, try to be more attentive next time okay? ONESHOT


Hallo! I got this idea when I was watching the pregnant cat that stayed in my house (it is not mine, it merely strayed in and decided to stay). And then I wondered, what will happen if…

You read it for yourself! I'm not revealing anything here! XP

Possible presence of OOC-ness here.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice. Simple as that**.

**Koko's Mistake**

',',

"Konnichiwa kitty! How are you?" a brunette crooned as she gazed at a snow-white cat. Lazy cerulean blue eyes watched her smile grow wider, fingers burying themselves in the cat's fur. It purred and pushed its head playfully against her arm.

"Mikan! Mikan-chan, where are you?" someone called, sounding very much like Kokoroyomi.

"Koko! I'm coming!" she yelled. The cat jumped up and glared accusingly at her, startled by her sudden outburst. "Oops, gomen kitty. I'll see you later okay?"

The girl ruffled the fur behind its ears affectionately. The cat softened its gaze and purred contentedly, its belly brushing against Mikan's leg. The brunette giggled and stood up, causing the cat to tumble over onto its side.

"Mikan!" the boy sounded very irritated at having to wait for her.

"Coming! Ja ne kitty!" she said sweetly and waved at the cat before bending down to push away the curtain of plants that hid them from curious students. "Hey Kokoroyomi! Where are you?"

"Here." Messy blonde hair poked out from behind a huge tree, quickly followed by the rest of his body. Slightly unfocused eyes looked at her quizzically. "Where have you been? We've been searching for you for some time now. Ikuyo, Jinno sensei's class is about to start."

"Jin-Jin? Demo, I thought there is no Math today?"

Kokoroyomi rolled his eyes. "He's replacing Narumi sensei's period, remember? He told us that yesterday."

"_NANI?!_"

_RRIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNGGGGGGG!_

"KYAAAA! LATELATELATE!!!!"

"That's Mikan alright," the boy groaned as he hastened to class.

',', (after a totally horrible hour of Math)

"Hey kitty! Where are you?" Mikan called, hunting high and low for the white feline. She pushed back a strand of her hair and ducked to avoid a low branch. "Kitty! Ah, there you are!"

The snow-white heap on the floor looked up before leaping awkwardly into the brunette's lap. It purred a little and pushed its head affectionately against the girl's stomach. Mikan giggled and ran a hand down its fur. Suddenly she noticed the abnormal bulge around the cat's lower body.

"Ooh…hey Koko! Come see!" she yelled happily, peeking out of the natural curtain. The boy's blonde head turned around in surprise, a tin of Cola in his hand.

"Mikan-chan! What is there to see?" he asked, knowing that he could not penetrate her nullifying barrier.

"K-Kitty! She's pregnant!" Mikan chattered, a huge grin on her face.

"Oh really?"

"Yes! Must tell the others! Will you help me, Koko?"

"Ah…"

"Please!"

"Uh…okay."

"Great! Let's go fetch the others! You go there while I go here, okay?" she said excitedly, pointing at a random direction as she spoke.

"Sure, anything you say."

"Arigato Kokoroyomi!"

_Wow, that girl sure is brimming with energy,_ Kokoroyomi thought to himself.

',',

Natsume, Ruka and Hotaru were seated peacefully at the edge of the canteen, casually eating their lunch. The fire caster stared moodily at the other two beside him, considering them with amusement. Ruka kept sending nervous glances in Hotaru's direction, who in turn glared at him. He would then quail and chomp his food, resulting in him choking. Natsume would snort and thump his friend's back until it receded.

This scene repeated itself several times until it seemed like clockwork. Ruka sneaks a glance…Hotaru stares…the boy chokes…Natsume sighs and pats his back…. Again, and again, and again, until Hotaru disrupted the cycle by pulling out a very disturbingly, familiar-looking red gun.

"Urusai, baka. I want to eat."

The animal loving boy gulped and nodded mutely, his scared teal eyes watching the red gun. He swallowed too big a mouthful of his food and started to choke again. One glance at the baka gun silenced him effectively, his face turning redder with every passing second as he tried to stay silent lest he had the unfortunate 'luck' to get hit by Hotaru's baka gun.

"Ah, there you are!" someone panted, causing him to swallow the mouthful, resulting in a violent choking. Kokoroyomi looked at him in surprise.

"What's up with him?"

"Nothing," Hotaru murmured, munching slowly on her sandwich. "Why are you here?"

"Ano…there'sthisnewcatMikanfoundandshesaysit'spregnantandshewantsyoutoseeit."

"Nani?"

"Mikan, she -"

"What's wrong with the baka?" Natsume butted in.

"It's pregnant," Kokoroyomi said, mistaking the 'baka' Natsume was referring to for the cat. Oops, wrong information given, Koko! Tee hee!

"WHAT! _Mikan?_"

"Hai. Anything wrong?" the blonde drawled, still ignorant of his small – correction, HUGE – mistake.

An angry blur dashed past him, startling the boy. Ruka quickly followed him, a hand clutching his neck. His normally pale face was rapidly turning blue with the morsel of food still stuck in his throat. Nevertheless, he trailed the blur in front of him that was an extremely livid Natsume. A furious Natsume is not a nice person to be with at all. Put your toe out of the line and _whoosh!_ You will be incinerated, guaranteed.

Hotaru watched them go blankly before chewing on a morsel of her sandwich. Her duck-shaped motorcycle screeched to a stop beside her, missing Kokoroyomi by a hair. He sighed in relief at the close escape.

"Phew. I nearly had a heart attack then."

Uh-uh, Koko, you spoke too soon.

The inventing genius climbed onto her motorcycle, put on her helmet, and revved up the engine. The next moment, she was gone, leaving a very disgruntled Kokoroyomi to cough pathetically in the thick smoke that engulfed him.

"Oh Kami-sama, why are you **-cough-** so interested in **–cough, cough!-** a pregnant _cat_ **-cough-** huh?"

Unfortunately, his lament fell on deaf ears. Or rather, no one was present to listen to him.

',',

Natsume slowed to a stop, his alert ruby red eyes darting here and there for a trace of a certain clumsy brunette's trademark pigtails. Nope, no Mikan here. _Argh, baka Mikan, where in hell are you?_

Many students were taking a stroll, enjoying the gentle breeze that soothed them. It blew playfully around them, occasionally slapping cherry blossoms across their surprised faces. But Natsume didn't have the time to enjoy the caressing breeze at the moment. His attention was solely on searching for Mikan, who currently was not within his range of sight.

The fire caster growled under his breath. That baka seemed to be missing whenever he wanted to see her. On the contrary, she always appeared before his face when he least wanted her annoying company.

_How did polka dots get pregnant?_ He thought irritably. _I'm sure she didn't get to close with another guy to have s – forget I said that! Eww! I never said that!_

_Yeah right, you didn't,_ a small voice snorted in his mind.

_I said I didn't, and that's that!_ Natsume retorted to, uh, himself?

_Oh you did. You said that Mikan didn't get close enough to a guy to have s –_

_Urusai!_

_You're asking yourself to shut up here._

_Humph._

Ruka came up just then, doubled over and panting heavily. One knee sank onto the ground as it gave way to exhaustion. "Natsume…where is…Mikan?"

"Wakarimasen."

"Oh…do you think…Mikan is really…?"

"…"

"Ugh…remind me…never to look at Imai Hotaru…when I am eating…ever again," Ruka groaned, massaging his chest.

"It's your own fault for allowing your eyes to stray."

The blonde groaned wearily and stood up, his knees grimy with dirt. "I'll try…"

"More like you can't."

"Wh-What?!"

"Admit it. You like her, ne?"

"N-N-_NOOOOOOO_!"

Natsume winced. Who would've thought that _Ruka_ could scream _that_ loud? And he thought _Mikan_ was bad.

Oh well. Miracles never cease to happen. Speaking of the brunette, Natsume was rapidly growing anxious.

Where in Hell is polka dots?!

',',

"Okay, so let's consider the possibilities. What are the signs of pregnancy?" Ruka said in a strained voice. Why, oh why, did he agree to ask Hotaru regarding _this_ particular _subject_? This was a girl's problem. _Not_ a boy's. And to Ruka, this information should be kept a secret from boys. It was far too unpleasant to his ears.

Who would want to learn about period and all that crap anyway? Not to mention the s- word, and the way babies are…eurgh, Nogi Ruka, your mind is NOT straying in that direction. Steer clear _away_ from that subject.

"Well, a girl would have mood swings…" Hotaru muttered emotionlessly, her eyes trained on the book she was reading, apparently not in the least concerned for her best friend's well being.

"Hn," Natsume snorted softly. Mood swings? Definitely. You don't need to observe polka dots for more than an hour to know that piece of trivial information. One moment she was laughing happily, and the next moment she would be on the floor, crying her eyes out. Pfft.

"And then she would have morning sickness, you know, rushing to the toilet or somewhere to empty her gut…"

"Oh! I remember Mikan running to the toilet this morning right after breakfast! And she was holding her stomach too!" Ruka cried, panicking. Natsume shot him a death glare. He saw that, and yet he never bothered to tell him?! Oh wait, why should Ruka tell him about that klutz anyway? He didn't care for her at all.

_Oh yes you do._ Argh. That annoying voice again.

_No I don't, _he argued mentally.

_You do,_ it sang. _Don't you feel like beating whoever got Mikan into this, ah, **situation**, into a pulp? Or burn him to ashes?_

_Damn right you are,_ Natsume thought furiously, cracking his knuckles. Ooh, whoever dared mess with _his_ Mikan is going to pay…. Eh?

Oh no.

He so did NOT think that.

Right?

_But you did!_ The voice said smugly. _'Whoever dared mess with MY Mikan is going to pay!' Ooh, our boy is getting over-protective, eh? Going to pay…Hyuuga Natsume is going to make the culprit pay!_ It crowed gleefully.

If Natsume could punch that voice in the face, he would. He could almost feel intense heat traveling up his face…

"Hey Natsume, daijoubu? Your face is red."

"H-Huh?" he blurted, looking up in bewilderment. He then looked down at the coffee table to snatch a glance at his reflection in the glass. Sure enough, the dashing fire handler's face was beetroot red, with angry patches of an even deeper shade of the similar colour splattered on his cheeks.

_This is YOUR fault,_ he chastised inwardly.

_I AM you, you know._

_Hn. Urusai._

_How can you ask yourself to shut up, may I ask?_ The voice suggested cheekily. _Demo, you can't sit still until your darling Mikan is found, ne?_

Natsume grunted and ignored the last comment.

_Your darling Mikan._

Uh…Natsume? Did you not say you ignored the last comment? Then why are those words resonating in that head of yours?

_Your darling Mikan._

It brought a deep blush unto his handsome features, causing Ruka to wonder if his friend was alright.

"Natsume?"

No answer.

"_NATSUME!_" Ruka cried in exasperation, waving a hand before his face. Natsume was jerked unpleasantly out of his reverie to stare into Ruka's eyes.

"W-What?"

"Daijoubu?"

"Hn."

"Do you want to figure out the possibilities of Mikan being pregnant, or do you want to stutter and bicker all day long?" Hotaru said emotionlessly, watching the colour recede from Natsume's face with the slightest hint of amusement in her eyes. The red wave returned in full force as soon as the dreaded word 'pregnant' slipped out of her mouth.

"Gomen Imai-san. Do continue," Ruka interrupted hastily, seeing Natsume hide his flaming eyes behind his bangs.

"Very well. Any more interruptions, and out you go," she said with a note of finality in her voice. Ruka nodded and stared at her, only to look down again before he lost himself in her beautiful violet orbs. Hotaru raised a brow but chose to ignore the boy's uncomfortable gesture.

"A girl would look rather pale…"

Come to think of it, Mikan's face _did_ seem to have lost a tad of its normal rosy tint…. Natsume had heard enough. With determination burning in his ruby red eyes, he stood up and walked out of the secluded room. Ruka watched him go blankly.

"What got over him?"

"Oh…just being protective, I think," Hotaru replied, taking a sip of tea from her cup. "And a tiny bit of jealousy, ne?"

The room was eerily silent after her nonchalant comment.

Reality crashed down onto the poor boy just then. If Natsume had left the room, then…

Oh no. His best friend did NOT desert him. But he did, so that means…

Nogi Ruka is alone with Imai Hotaru in the room. And there is no knowing what that sneaky girl might do…

Hotaru bent down and reached for her bag. Flipping up the brown flap, she started searching in her bag for goodness-knows-what. The blonde watched her every movement apprehensively.

She rummaged about for a minute or so. Soon Ruka's forehead was slick with the layer of sweat that had formed there. It continued dripping with each passing second.

A peek of red could be seen emerging from the depths of the bag. By that time, the boy was totally drenched in his own perspiration.

Ruka had seen enough.

"I didn't do anything wrong! I'm _innocent_, so _BYE_!" he yelled hysterically before fleeing. There was a loud crash, a bang, then…silence.

Hotaru watched him go emotionlessly. "Baka," she said slowly, using her fingers to unwrap the red wrapper that covered a ripe tangerine.

',',

_Baka Mikan, where in Hell are you!_ Natsume thought in frustration, sinking his fist into the trunk of a tree. The dull throbbing in his arm did NOT help relieve his anxiety in the least. _You had better be safe…_he found himself thinking.

Someone cooed softly then. Natsume pricked up his ears. That voice definitely belonged to a female. That particular voice with absolutely no malice in it, and so sweet to the listening ear…

If he could hear that voice, the owner must be nearby. With renewed determination, he strode off in the direction of the sweet voice, no longer in doubt.

The voice he liked so much could only belong to one person, and that was Sakura Mikan.

"Mikan!" he hollered upon seeing a heap of rumpled fabric on the ground. Brown pigtails swished around in surprise to meet his gaze.

"Oh, Natsume! Did you come to see Kitty?" she quipped cheerfully. Natsume stared at her incredulously.

"Nani?" Why would he come all the way here to see a cat? No, his main concern was for the brunette before him.

"Eh? You didn't come to see it?" she said sadly, looking crestfallen.

"Uh…polka dots."

"I am NOT polka dots, Natsume."

"Hn. I just want to ask…"

"Ask what?"

"Are you really…" Natsume could not force the bitter word out of his mouth. Sure, he wanted revenge. But that p-word tasted foul.

"Really what, Natsume?" Her inquisitive brown eyes searched his face for an answer. "Oof!"

She was left breathless Natsume pinned her down, his knees on her skirt. His arm was pressed hard against her neck.

"Who did this to you?" His eyes were practically spitting flames. Mikan quailed under his murderous glare.

"D-Did what?"

"Don't act stupid, polka dots. Who did this to you?"

"Look here Natsume. How can I tell you what you want to know if I don't know what you are talking about in the first place?" she pointed out indignantly. A hint of annoyance crossed her face. Natsume found himself thinking that her features were a great deal paler than the tanned tinge it used to take.

His anxiety for her mounting, he exerted more force onto her back, causing the brunette to gasp. Her thin frame struggled fruitlessly under his grip.

A pitiful meow was heard seconds before a white streak dashed out of the shrubbery, landing happily on Mikan's head. Its claws got entangled in her hair.

"Ow! Oh, it's you, kitty!" she exclaimed, reaching out to pat the cat on the head. It was a little awkward since there was a boy half-sitting on her back. The cat ignored her and put out another paw in an attempt to free itself, succeeding only in worsening the already bleak situation. "OW!"

"Are you p-pregnant?" Natsume blurted out, well aware of his awkward position.

Apparently the girl felt uneasy as well. She turned a deep shade of red and looked down, the disgruntled cat forgotten temporarily.

"Nani? Iie. I think you mean the cat," she pointed out, talking to the ground.

Natsume couldn't believe his ears. Then again, perhaps this baka was so naïve to the point she didn't even understand the statement 'pregnant'. But why mention the cat?

"Then why did you rush off this morning?"

Mikan stared at him in confusion. "This morning? Oh, I had a stomachache. It's a girl's thing," she added hastily. Her words were not exactly comforting to Natsume's ears.

He decided against asking her regarding her mood swings, since, well, that girl had always been that way, ever since they were ten. So that leaves one more thing to confirm…

"Why do you look so pale lately?"

His question caught Mikan off-guard. Why was he so inquisitive all of a sudden anyway?

"Oh, do I look fairer? The Nivea products I have been using lately must've been effective then."

Natsume nearly spat in disgust. Nivea products? Why do girls care so much about their appearances anyway? Always searching for facial cleansers and so forth. It made him feel sick.

"Itai!" Mikan yelled when her hair was yanked roughly, no thanks to the cat's futile attempts to free its claws from its bounds.

To let off some of his anger, he burned the brunette's rubber bands. Glossy brown locks cascaded down onto her back and brushed the ground, free of the bands that restricted them.

The cat tugged insistently. To its immense relief, Mikan's hair relented and released its paw. Sharp, crescent-moon shaped claws retracted into the folds in the cat's paw. The feline gave one annoyed yowl and bounded away.

Mikan sighed in relief. "Arigato Natsume – eh, where is he?" She looked around in confusion. Where was the boy? He was nowhere to be seen.

Somewhere deep in the forest, trees were falling down at an alarming rate. Flames licked and scorched the flora that blocked an extremely angry male's path, burning them to a crisp.

_Kuso Kokoroyomi! You'll pay for this!_ He yelled inwardly. Two more trees fell. _To think I embarrassed myself for nothing…_

',',

Far away, a surprised boy tripped and fell. His half-empty tin of Cola escaped his fingers and rolled on the ground. The ground absorbed the beverage that spilled out of the can greedily.

Kokoroyomi was prepared to swear that he heard a faint yell some distance away. Deep inside, he felt that it was somehow connected to him. And it sounded disturbingly familiar too…

Uh-oh. What had he done this time to anger the dangerous fire alice?

Nothing extreme, he hoped. Yet that furious yell told him otherwise.

Hopefully, his ashes would remain after Natsume was done venting his anger on him.

"_Kokoroyomi!_" Natsume's angry voice projected itself, painfully clear to the mind-reading boy.

He gulped. Perhaps he would live to see the next dawn…if he was extremely lucky.

Better take off now before the furious ruby-eyed teenager could execute his wish to burn him alive.

**THE END**

How was this? Hopefully it was okay. I'm not sure if it is funny…lame ending.

Well, you know what to do right? -winks- Review, please!


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